Animal cells have recently been shown to express a novel class of single-stranded, ˜22 nucleotide (nt) non-coding RNAs, termed micro RNAs (miRNAs) (Lagos-Quintana et al, Science 294:853-858 (2001); Lau et al, Science 294:858-862 (2001); Lee and Ambros, Science 294:862-864 (2001)). miRNAs appear to be derived from ˜70 nt precursors that form a predicted RNA stem-loop structure. It remains unclear whether these miRNA precursor molecules are transcribed from autonomous promoters or are instead contained within longer RNAs (Ambros, Cell 107:823-826 (2001); Lau et al, Science 294:858-862 (2001)).
While over 100 distinct miRNAs are expressed in organisms as diverse as nematodes (Lau et al, Science 294:858-862 (2001), Lee et al, Science 294:862-864 (2001)), fruit flies (Lagos-Quintana et al, Science 294 858-858 (2002), and humans (Mourelatos et al, Genes Dev. 16:720-728 (2002)), as well as in plants (Tang et al, Genes Dev. 17:49-63 (2003), Reinhart et al, Genes Dev. 16:1616-1626 (2002)), their function remains largely uncertain. However, the biological activity of two miRNAs, C. elegans let-7 and lin-4, is well established (Lee et al, Cell 75:843-854 (1993); Reinhart et al, Nature 403:901-906 (2000)). Both lin-4 and let-7 are expressed during specific larval stages and both miRNAs interact with partially complementary RNA targets, located in the 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) of specific mRNAs, to selectively block their translation. This inhibition is important for appropriate developmental regulation in C. elegans (Wightman et al, Cell 75:855-862 (1993); Slack et al, Mol. Cell 5:659-669 (2000)).
Several miRNAs, including let-7, are evolutionarily conserved from C. elegans to man, as are several let-7 targets (Ambros, Cell 107:823-826 (2001)). This conservation implies that let-7, as well as other miRNAs, may also repress the expression of specific mRNA species in mammalian cells. This hypothesis is also suggested by the similarity between miRNAs and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), ˜21 nt double-stranded RNAs that can induce the degradation of mRNA molecules containing perfectly matched complementary targets, a process termed RNA interference (RNAi) (reviewed by Sharp, Genes Dev. 15:485-490 (2001), see also Hutvágner et al, Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 12:225-232 (2002) and Zamore et al, Science 296:1265-1269 (2002), further see U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,559). However, while miRNAs are encoded within the host genome, siRNAs are generally excised from larger dsRNA precursors produced during viral infection or introduced artificially.
Because the introduction of artificial siRNAs into animal cells can induce the degradation of homologous mRNA molecules, RNAi has emerged as a useful experimental tool (Elbashir et al, Nature 411:494-498 (2001); Fire et al, Nature 391:806-811 (1998); Hammond et al, Nature 404:293-295 (2000)). However, in mammalian cells, induction of RNAi required the transfection of RNA oligonucleotides, which can be inefficient and gives rise to only a transient inhibition in target gene expression.
The present invention provides RNA molecules (miRNAs) functionally equivalent to siRNAs that can be transcribed endogenously in animal and plant cells. The invention makes possible the production of miRNAs specifically designed to inhibit the expression of mRNA containing a complementary target sequence. The miRNA molecules of the invention can be used experimentally or therapeutically to inhibit gene function.